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“How could one man turn an entire nation against another people and their religion? By exploiting an issue of concern, promoting fear, and inflaming it to the point of contempt and hatred. The power of words, of language, of personality, of aggressive persuasion, and beguiling, insidious madness should not be underestimated.”

Royalties from downloads and page reads of Touching the Wire during Holocaust week will be donated to US Holocaust Memorial MuseumAt the end of 2014, I published my first historical novel, Touching the Wire, a tale of courage, hope, and love set partly in Auschwitz, a place where courage was essential, hope was a luxury few could afford, and love was a rare shining beacon of compassion in a world dominated by the capricious brutality and hatred cultivated by Nazi Germany.

Much has been written about this heinous episode in modern history that informs and shocks. We like to think that it never happened before and that it could never happen again, but man’s inhumanity to man seems part of our genetic code, and we must be constantly aware of systemic racism, elitism, and religious bigotry that runs in the veins beneath the flawless surface of mankind’s…

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One woman’s arc from, away, and back to being the creative person she began as –

excerpt, “When I first began creating my fabric images, I didn’t realize that I lacked joy and colour in my art, as I did in my life.

“I was a shy, insecure young woman who didn’t know how to achieve the life I wanted. I had no idea that my images were anything more than a “picture” to hang on the wall, because I, as a person, didn’t realize I had anything of value to say.

“Over time, I grew as an artist by my commitment to step out of my comfort zone, to contact strangers, to ask questions, and to seek answers. As I did this, my confidence also grew.”

I’m sure many readers will resonate with this week’s guest Barbara Carter, living with a burst of creativity inside and not knowing how to express it – life always gets in the way!

BARBARA CARTER was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. She is a visual artist and writer and is currently working on a series of memoirs focusing not only on her personal journey but highlighting important issues such as: anxiety, depression, loss and grief and the not so great ways of dealing with inner pain. Also living with a narcissistic mother. Barbara has an amazing ability to shed light on the sometimes dark subject matter with her ability to use humor. She also instructs art classes and offers guidance in writing memoir. The focus of her work is on examining the past in order to heal and move on.

My story is about learning how to follow my inner voice/intuition/soul.

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Nice review of two short stories by fellow Texan writer Rhonda Hopkins –

excerpt about the author, “Award-winning romantic suspense and horror author, Rhonda Hopkins, has learned firsthand that truth is stranger than fiction. Her two decades of experience as an investigator for her state and family courts give her characters a depth and realism that gives truth a run for its money.”

Here are my reviews of two short stories written by Rhonda Hopkins, an avid reader and prolific reviewer as well as being a valued IASD member and contributor. Having already read and enjoyed ‘The Consuming’ I knew I was on safe ground taking advantage of the free download of ‘Survival’ (though it has now reverted to its original price. Having said that, both are free to read if you have Kindle Unlimited).

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Amazon Description: Survival: Survival Series Prequel

When Sarah escapes from her brutal abductors, she promises to return to rescue her twin sister, but with the walking dead invading Fort Worth, TX, she is forced to rely on a competitive coworker who made her work life hell for years. With her coworker weakened by cancer treatments, her sister still imprisoned, and zombies looking for an easy meal, Sarah’s only plan, if she can pull it off, is Survival.

This is a really impressive memoir, in part of what the reader can learn about bi-polarism and how it affects a person; in other parts it shows a writer insightful enough into the psyche of non-affected people to explain his feelings in a manner that grant us eye-opening and aha moments. I have friends who suffer with the condition who didn’t have the gift to explain things as well as the author. Not following an entirely linear approach we get thrown in at the deep end and unwrap childhood and other ages later. Taking an extreme moment in the author’s young life, being arrested and imprisoned, as the starting point gives us an immediate sense of the volatility of the condition and brings in more than a mere sympathy perspective. How to make the police offers understand, the judge understand, anyone understand the difference between criminal activity and mental health…

When you suffer because of discrimination, there’s always an urge to speak out. But even if you spend a thousand years speaking out, your suffering won’t be relieved.

Only through deep understanding and liberation from ignorance can you be liberated from your suffering.

When you break through to the truth, compassion springs up like a stream of water. With that compassion, you can embrace even the people who have persecuted you.

When you’re motivated by desire to help those who are victims of ignorance, only then are you free from your suffering and feelings of violation.

Don’t wait for things to change around you. You have to practice liberating yourself. Then you will be equipped with the power of compassion and understanding, the only kind of power that can help transform an environment full of injustice and discrimination.

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Kinda scary and kinda promising and very interesting, all on Christmas Eve 🙂

excerpt, “If the Internet is all about discovery (which I believe it is), I believed for a moment that this brand was going to help me discover ‘my people’. This, I know, is the most powerful thing a brand can do.”

Was it the illuminati? Was it a secret community of advanced community builders? Was it an invitation to join the robot takeover of the world?

Sadly, it was none of those things.

Also, sadly, it was not actually a club at all. Though that is what the brand called it.

Exhibit A: The Invitation

I had been searching the web for some help on Instagram for my side business, and I found an agency that piqued my interest. So I poked around their site a bit and left. The next day, I decided to revisit the site to check back on a resource I remembered reading. At that point, this pop-up interrupted my experience:

A secret club?That sounds pretty damn cool.

The community builder in me was curious how an agency was building community, and…

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Originally posted on lucinda E Clarke: How about a Christmas present for me? It won’t cost you more than a moment and very little effort. I’m asking all you FABULOUS people out there for a re-blog of this post (flatter…

True WWII stories fictionalized by the son of man who fought for our freedoms – Includes Christoph Fischer’s review and interview with the author, R. Grey Hoover.

Interview excerpt: “Sam and his friends illustrate the regular soldier’s life, not just the super heroes as featured in Hollywood films about the time. They have embarrassing moments during the physical exams, they run out of petrol and have a huge variety of close calls and successes, too. It made them much more realistic and likeable.”

Today I’m delighted to feature a remarkable book by R Grey Hoover, which has been re-released with a fantastic new cover. I came across the book and reviewed it a while back after meeting Grey in a writer’s group. To this day I still remember the book very vividly and am so pleased that Grey, who’s such a dedicated supporter of other authors, finally is pushing his own work a little harder, because it’s absolutely worth the exposure. Here’s my review:

“KICKER (The Forgotten Front): A World War 2 thriller based on actual experiences and official military aviation history in the China, Burma and India theater” by R. Grey Hoover is an extraordinary read about air force life in Burma during WWII.

It focuses on Sam Huber (and his wife Eleanor home in Pennsylvania) from his first days of training through his various stops on the way to…

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